Re: [PATCH-for-9.1] target/nios2: Remove machines and system emulation

On 27/03/2024 15.15, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote: > On 27/3/24 14:19, Thomas Huth wrote: >> On 27/03/2024 13.45, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote: >>> On 27/3/24 13:35, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote: >>>> Remove the Nios II machines and the system emulation code >>>> (deprecated since v8.2 in commit 9997771bc1 "target/nios2: >>>> Deprecate the Nios II architecture").

>>>> diff --git a/hw/nios2/Kconfig b/hw/nios2/Kconfig >>>> deleted file mode 100644 >>>> index 4748ae27b6..0000000000 >>>> --- a/hw/nios2/Kconfig >>>> +++ /dev/null >>>> @@ -1,13 +0,0 @@ >>>> -config NIOS2_10M50 >>>> -    bool >>>> -    select NIOS2 >>>> -    select SERIAL >>>> -    select ALTERA_TIMER >>> >>> I forgot to mention I deliberately chose to keep the Altera >>> timer model in the tree, since it looks like a re-usable >>> IP component. >> >> But if it is not used anymore by any machine, this will happily >> bitrot, won't it? I think I'd rather remove it, too ... maybe in a >> separate patch, so that in case somebody later needs it again, it can >> be restored by simply reverting the patch again. > > It is related to dynamic machines, how do we decide what components > to remove once there? I suppose we'd need to deprecate every single > component, like ALTERA_TIMER. But we are not yet generating dynamic > machines, so for now we can consider ALTERA_TIMER part of Nios II > sysemu removal. I like your idea of removing it as a separate patch. Even if we switch to dynamic machines one day, the devices still need to be somehow used and tested in the CI, e.g. by scripts that assemble a machine dynamically. If there's a device that is never used at all, we can also simply remove it until someone needs it again, I think.